Tag: Voting

The Re:Act newsletter from two weeks ago had an excellent section on preparing for special elections and regularly scheduled elections in 2017 as well as the very important 2018 midterms. I’m going to share it here because I think as many people as possible should see it. I’ve already mentioned and supported several of these organizations and promoted some of these actions in this blog, but seeing everything together is helpful in terms of getting an overview of everything we need to do to get more Democrats and progressives into elected office.

Organizing

✓ Find your local Democratic party office. No matter who you support for Chair, the DNC is likely to be in good hands in the years to come, and will be prioritizing local organizing. A few volunteers for a local rep or state senate candidate can make all the difference.

✓ Sign up with #KnockEveryDoor. This initiative is a set of nationwide, volunteer-led canvasses to organize communities against Trump. Canvass where you live and invite your friends to get involved, especially if you live in a county that flipped from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016.

✓ Donate to the Movement Voter Project. Efficient, localized donating to maximize impact. The organization talent-scouts both national movement-building efforts and local efforts in all 50 states that are focused on voter engagement. These are organizations where an extra $10 will make the greatest difference for achieving progress in keeping democratic institutions viable and accountable.

Special Elections in 2017

✓ For 2017 special elections, share the below Flippable links. Flippable has compiled a list of the 23 upcoming special elections in 2017. These races provide electoral opportunities to resist the Trump agenda. The organization prioritized three races as targets to flip or hold based on the closeness of the race and the long-term impact of these seats on national politics. They’ve also listed all the elections so people can see the nearest one to them:

House races

✓ Check out Swingleft. Control of the House in 2018 will be decided by a handful of Swing Districts, places where the last election was decided by a thin margin. Find your closest Swing District and join its team to learn about actionable opportunities to support progressives — and defeat Republicans — in that district, no matter where you live.

Senate Races

✓ Follow Roadto2018, a coalition focused on the 2018 midterms, with a specific choice to marshal resources to support 12 specific Senate candidates. Speaking personally, I worry about these races getting the attention they deserve, specifically because they will be tough fights.

Candidates

✓ Sign up at Run for Something, a new group which will recruit and support talented, passionate young people who will “advocate for progressive values now and for the next 30 years, with the ultimate goal of building a progressive bench.”

Voting Rights

✓ Sign up for Let America Vote, a new project by Jason Kander, former senate candidate and secretary of state in Missouri. Says Kander, “We have a voting problem in America. Voting in our country has never been easy, but there’s a new challenge: Politicians are now trying to stop Americans from voting because of who they are likely voting for in an election … Let America Vote will be there to lead the way against it.”

✓ Support VoteRiders, an organization making sure that no eligible citizen is denied his or her right to vote for lack of ID.

With so many states where Republicans hold a trifecta (State House, State Senate, and governorship), there have been a lot of new voting restriction laws coming out of the woodwork, and frequently passing. These laws are frequently billed as helping to prevent ‘voter fraud’, but rates of voter fraud are so low as to be practically non-existent, and what these laws tend to do in practice is make it much more difficult for young people (especially those who are attending college in a state that is different from the one that they vote in) and POC to vote – both groups that traditionally skew democratic in their political preferences.

It’s important that we do all we can to ensure that nobody who is eligible to vote is disenfranchised by one of these discriminatory and damaging laws. One way that you can help is by signing up and getting involved with Let America Vote, a new venture by former Missouri Secretary of State and 2016 Senate candidate Jason Kander (who is great on Twitter – you should follow him).

The organization is still in its very early days, but it already has the support of some Democratic superstars (Cecile Richards, Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Stephanie Shriock), mostly on the younger end of the spectrum, which is awesome. Donate to help get it up and running, or sign up for information on how you can help to ensure all Americans have the chances to make their voices heard at the ballot box once they’ve gotten on their feet.